Faces of the Uninsured

With insurance premiums skyrocketing from the reach of middle class working Americans, the faces of the uninsured are changing. Steve and Youngra and their two daughters, my campground neighbors at Ohiopyle State Park, are from Columbus, Ohio. Steve & Youngra and their children are uninsured.

Steve is a self-employed real estate broker and property manager. The family policies available to them on the individual insurance market are unaffordable. Youngra has returned to school to become a nurse so that the family can obtain reasonable group coverage.

It has always been a part of the American Dream that if you work hard and play by the rules, you should be able to afford to care for your family. When it comes to health care, that's just not true any more.

Small business owners, and those like Steve who are self-employed, are particularly vulnerable because they have no bargaining power with behemoth insurers. This is the law of the free market. We need the government to step in and level the playing field with health insurers to make affordable coverage available to everyone.